BTCPROPOSED GUIDE FOR NEW USB ERUPTERSBTC *Note: Mods at bottom of page

Please Drop By and Share what you can.

POST WORKING SETTINGS ONLY partial list below: Questions by others having difficulty with those and your own settings Welcome!

1-Platform used such as Raspberry PI, AMD, WINDOWS, LINUX etc.2-Mining Software used as BFG Miner cgminer or your own Modified software.3-Working Settings including if you could pictures of Configurations, Settings, Units.4-Tweaks you found were useful.5-What you found Did Not Work or Caused Issues and Why.6-USB Hubs and links to any hardware you Found Exceptional. 7-Any Ideas regarding all the above.

8-Any info; Links to Software, Drivers, or Anything You'd Like To See on this main page (PM me) are Welcome!!!

Thanks for TWEAKING your "RIG POSTS" with your data making them user friendly.I will grow the lists of the main categories as time permits and then have the "Running Rigs Links"posted here on main page for easy access to your specific Data.

Your efforts will help many get their Rigs up and Running!I hope this thread becomes Useful. Happy Mining!

NOTE: "I experienced issues with Block Erupter USB's on Raspbain. However I was successful at building and running cgminer from git (3.3.1) after dist-upgrading Raspbain from wheesy to jessie. Rock solid now and hot plugging works flawless."

NOTE: "I experienced issues with Block Erupter USB's on Raspbain. However I was successful at building and running cgminer from git (3.3.1) after dist-upgrading Raspbain from wheesy to jessie. Rock solid now and hot plugging works flawless."

Once the RPI was connected I had to build bfgminer from git - and even then there is a minor issue. Seems bfgminer's -S auto will not detect the USB sticks. You therefore have 2 options, use -S all which will make bfgminer open all usb's for mining and is not advisable.Or, you can manually list all devices like so

I feel I should note that these things run HOT.I was hoping to use the 2 over-voltage ports on my hub to squeeze a little more power from these guys, but when they sit by themselves with no air flow they will burn the skin if touched.Also hardware errors are slightly problematic. I am not sure what is normal, but a couple of my seem to be incapable of doing anything except spit out errors. (see pic)Not sure if its the heat, the RPI, or the hub just yet.

If you found this info helpful feel free to help me out too 13vEmRoo8beAfdLc9ELw8GGAH3WTYgoEg4

i've heard reports of people having success using Rosewill hubs with the Raspberry Pi, so I'll be giving that a try with MinePeon as well.

That's a 3.5A you've got there. and 2.0

I heard the 3.0 is better due to increase in amps per hub.edit: Though I have heard some software has issues with 3.0 hubs.

However the 3.0 listed and proven Hub is 4A.So at 2.5W ea. the 4amp gets you 8pcs Erupters.

The 3.5amp gets you 7pcs Erupters.Not including powering any fans.

However IF the transformer powering the hub is external you could find a 4 or 5amp one and switch it out.

IF you buy a Hub at half the cost and power 5 Erupters and a fan while skipping every other port it may aid in keeping heat down or need of a fan in certain circumstances.Especially IF you have the Hub mounted on something skinny to aid air flow from underneath.IF the Hub is on a completely flat surface (as most are) it does not pull cooler air from below efficiently enough to cool them properly IMO. And the entire Hub gets warm.

This Hub has a switch to possibly Power 6 or 10 ports.There may be "limiters" on each port.

I'm trying only to post known "in use proven" hardware etc. on the main page.Let me know how it works out!

I'm running the hard-float Raspbian image (2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian) from raspberrypi.org on my pi. I liked MinePeon but when I tried it there was no way to upgrade the system other than completely rewriting the SD card with a new image. I had trouble getting my wifi working with the arch linux image from raspberrypi.org.

I'm mining on the rpi with cgminer v3.1.1. I downloaded a tar of the tagged version from github (https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer). Build dependencies were installed with apt-get. I had to set my LD_LIBRARY_PATH so that it could find the jansson library. I'm using the following hardware-specific cgminer options:

--icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100 -S /dev/ttyUSB0

I have this Manhattan hub (http://www.adafruit.com/products/961) which I would not recommend for Erupter mining due to the layout of the ports. I'll be replacing it with the DLink DUB-H7 mentioned earlier in this thread.

I'm running the hard-float Raspbian image (2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian) from raspberrypi.org on my pi. I liked MinePeon but when I tried it there was no way to upgrade the system other than completely rewriting the SD card with a new image. I had trouble getting my wifi working with the arch linux image from raspberrypi.org.

I'm mining on the rpi with cgminer v3.1.1. I downloaded a tar of the tagged version from github (https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer). Build dependencies were installed with apt-get. I had to set my LD_LIBRARY_PATH so that it could find the jansson library. I'm using the following hardware-specific cgminer options:

--icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100 -S /dev/ttyUSB0

I have this Manhattan hub (http://www.adafruit.com/products/961) which I would not recommend for Erupter mining due to the layout of the ports. I'll be replacing it with the DLink DUB-H7 mentioned earlier in this thread.

What I have discovered so far is that some are expected and others are due to too much heat. I have also seen posts noting conflicts with certain software and USB3.0 Hubs. Last I saw is patches were being developed and by now may have already been completed.

I am using Windows 7 32-bit and CGMiner 3.1.1 with no special settings on Slushs Pool. My usb hub is an old hub i had from my Xbox 360 Rock Band kit. I picked up a desktop fan from Walmart.

To get Windows 7 to see my Block Erupter i downloaded the driver from here: http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/pages/usbtouartbridgevcpdrivers.aspxI looked in device manager under Ports (COM & LPT)I didnt install any of the things from the .zip, i just extracted the contents into a folder on my desktop. Then from my Block Erupters Properties i manually searched for the directory of the driver. It found the driver and installed it when i pointed to the extracted folder.

I made myself a .bat file in the cgminer folder. At the end, the "COM#" is whatever number the Block Erupter gets assigned in device manager -> Ports (Com & LPT). Mine happened to be COM3. Only one line in my .bat.

I saved the .bat and made a shortcut to it to place on my desktop. I just run the .bat and my miner gets to work. Of course on first startup, i had to enter the address:port of the pool i am using, my worker name, and worker password.

I am using Windows 7 32-bit and CGMiner 3.1.1 with no special settings on Slushs Pool. My usb hub is an old hub i had from my Xbox 360 Rock Band kit. I picked up a desktop fan from Walmart.*SNIPPED*I also have three more Block Erupters, a new USB hub, and a couple fans heading my way in the mail right now.

This is a special laptop - as in 2009 I used this very machine to generate 'a few extra Bitcoins' - Yes really!

With it's 800 Mhz processor this laptop probably generated somewhere around 1000-ish Bitcoin's, which are now in full circulation ofc. It ran 24/7 for several months (2 of these laptops actually on/off), until 100's of new nodes arrived on the Bitcoin network and the difficulty level got to great.

My Alienware desktop has a USB 3.0 'charger' cable socket and I've also purchased an ORICO W8PH4 Series 'Super Speed USB 3.0 Hub' (4 port) and although it doesn't need a power cable I did need an AM/AF 1.5m USB 3.0 (blue) extension cable for it. Note that only 2 USB Block Erupter's can attach to this hub due to the direction and spacing of the ports, but it is a fully working hub. Also pictured is an USB 'Mini-Fan' JLK-002 which has an 'Ultra-low Power-wind Volume' (according to the box - lol), which was 'cheap as chips' on ebay and just the job. It really does have 'Power-wind', I had to stick it down with blue tack, I'd recommend it in fact!

Interestingly enough plugging the USB Block Erupter into the Hub didn't load or recognize the drivers at first. However, plugging the stick into the PC's same USB port and then afterwards (reconnecting it) via the hub, it was recognized instantly! I suspect that this might be the case with most hubs!

A good cooling fan is essential and USB 3.0 charger (blue) Ports / Cables / Hubs (where possible) - as I've noticed much reduced HW errors when incorporating all of these factors.

With this 'High-Power' / good cooling set-up each USB Block Erupter has settled at around 334 to 335 Mh/s with cgminer 3.1.1 after several hours of operation.

I was a very early Bitcoin adopter - I mined and sold over 12,500+ BTC before they reached just a few cents! I bought a slice of a rather famous Pizza!? and donated 500 BTC to the first Bitcoin Faucet. Got a bit lost along the way... logged out 2010... logged back in 2013... I did 'find' around 25 BTC (in old wallets and sites), which is better than none! <> BBR - BTC - BTSX - CBX - CURE - DRK - GAP - GRC - LTC - MINT - MYR - NMC - NuBits - PPC - SLM - START - XPM - XMG - XST - SLG <> This is not investment advice! <>

Drivers installed with zadig as described and can view in device manager

I set up a .bat file and I when I try to run it, it flashes on the screen and automatically closes. Says "-S unrecognized option" Any ideas why? I unchecked "hide extensions for all file types" as instructed when creating a .bat file.

My text in the bat file reads as follows: (replacing user/pass with xxx/yyy)

Drivers installed with zadig as described and can view in device manager

I set up a .bat file and I when I try to run it, it flashes on the screen and automatically closes. Says "-S unrecognized option" Any ideas why? I unchecked "hide extensions for all file types" as instructed when creating a .bat file.

My text in the bat file reads as follows: (replacing user/pass with xxx/yyy)

Mine just started working Problem is I can't see what i did any different this time. It does mention here that you have to replug it in between trying different versions. I left it plugged in while i was trying different versions etc... Will post if I find out any more info that might be of use to others in the same situation.

1. Install the dependencies using apt-get2. Download cgminer v3.1.1 from here: https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer/tags3. Unzip or untar it somewhere in your home directory.4. cd into the cgminer directory5. Run "./autogen.sh" since you downloaded the zip/tar from github6. Run "./configure --enable-icarus" (icarus support is required for the erupter)7. Run "make" to build cgminer8. Run cgminer with the icarus options listed earlier in this thread and one -S /dev/ttyUSBX for each of your erupters, where X is the number of the unit starting from zero.

If you get errors in any of the autogen/configure/make steps, it's likely there is a missing dependency that needs to be installed with apt-get.

Drivers installed with zadig as described and can view in device manager

I set up a .bat file and I when I try to run it, it flashes on the screen and automatically closes. Says "-S unrecognized option" Any ideas why? I unchecked "hide extensions for all file types" as instructed when creating a .bat file.

My text in the bat file reads as follows: (replacing user/pass with xxx/yyy)

In my experience with cgminer 3.1.1, it asked me for the pool information the first time i started it up and continues to use it whenever i close and re-open cgminer. If it doesnt ask, you can go into the [p]ool settings and add your pool yourself. You can check out my post on page two of this thread and see if what i did could help you at all. Im using windows 7 32 bit and cgminer as well.

Also, im sure you did this correctly but i gotta ask anyway, COM3 is the correct COM# for your erupter right?

Well for what it's worth, here are my results of building and testing cgminer 3.2.0 on a Raspberry Pi running MinePeon-2013-05-25 (all in all pretty straightforward). Please consider, as a test, I did all this as root which might not be the best choice if you want to "update" your Minepeon system with it later on.

Imagine I'm logged in through ssh, I did a system upgrade beforehand.

Code:

pacman -Syu

Then I got the sources from the repo and built cgminer (btw, you need at least "--enable-icarus" for the USB Block Erupter to be supported). It suggests a little different compile flags in the README, you might consider using those.

It threw some "comms error" msgs but after a sec all miners showed up and started hashing.

Here are my stats with a diff of 1 at start and 2 hours later (2 Lancelots and 5 USB Erupter). I still have to investigate the exceptionally high HW errors on 2 of the USB Erupters (But I got them too using the "build-in" versions of cgminer and bfgminer when I started hashing with these babys).

(seems cgminer sometimes reports wrong speeds like on BLT 1 in the 2nd pic, but that is sporadic and it is correct again after a short while, well here at least)

So all in all cgminer performs pretty nicely on my Pi. Thanks to the devs for all the effort they put into it!

In my experience with cgminer 3.1.1, it asked me for the pool information the first time i started it up and continues to use it whenever i close and re-open cgminer. If it doesnt ask, you can go into the [p]ool settings and add your pool yourself. You can check out my post on page two of this thread and see if what i did could help you at all. Im using windows 7 32 bit and cgminer as well.

Also, im sure you did this correctly but i gotta ask anyway, COM3 is the correct COM# for your erupter right?

I can't run plain cgminer. My computer gives a system error, "The program can't start because OpenCL.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix the problem."

1. Install the dependencies using apt-get2. Download cgminer v3.1.1 from here: https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer/tags3. Unzip or untar it somewhere in your home directory.4. cd into the cgminer directory5. Run "./autogen.sh" since you downloaded the zip/tar from github6. Run "./configure --enable-icarus" (icarus support is required for the erupter)7. Run "make" to build cgminer8. Run cgminer with the icarus options listed earlier in this thread and one -S /dev/ttyUSBX for each of your erupters, where X is the number of the unit starting from zero.

If you get errors in any of the autogen/configure/make steps, it's likely there is a missing dependency that needs to be installed with apt-get.

Note the parenthesis on the XP command. I do not know if it is critcal but it defaults that way.

The name after -u is really the worker name for btcguild. Which in btcguild is yourusername_suffix. So I have two workers called yourusername_2 and yourusername_3. Some of the examples have periods instead of underscores and I don't think that works with btcguild. I have played with any other options. Both units are hashing around 334M. And btcguild does not care about passwords for the stratum servers so use "123"

Well hopefully the new version of cgminer (3.2.1) that has a significant bugfix for these devices will allow people to move to it instead of sticking to the old version.

Compiled it on my Pi and it looks like as if it does perform much better with lesser HW errors still on diff 1 (check my previous post). Also, no need for additional options just like with 3.2.0. Thanks ckolivas and kano for the fast cgminer updates. Here's an addition to my previous post to get my test build to 3.2.1. Stop cgminer and do this:

Well hopefully the new version of cgminer (3.2.1) that has a significant bugfix for these devices will allow people to move to it instead of sticking to the old version.

Compiled it on my Pi and it looks like as if it does perform much better with lesser HW errors still on diff 1 (check my previous post). Also, no need for additional options just like with 3.2.0. Thanks ckolivas for the fast cgminer updates. Here's an addition to my previous post to get my test build to 3.2.1. Stop cgminer and do this:

You can also add --enable-avalon If you plug the avalon into the USB port of whatever you are mining withWould be interesting to see if an RPi could handle mining on an avalon

LOL well the avalon itself is only a tplink 703 router and it averages ~20% CPU running an avalon, so the rpi should certainly be up to the task.

LUL... yeah, I saw the option but is it even possible to "circumvent" the hacked up tplink board they use (are the Avalon blades connected via USB)? But I too think a RPi should be more than sufficient, although Avalon added more RAM and stuff to the tplink board. I believe I even read that Bitmine.ch is planning to replace the tplink board with a RPi in their clones at a later time.

This command works well in version 3.1.1. It also does not work in 3.2.0

I'm happily hashing with 3.1.1

New version does not take -S parameter all, and will also not need icarus options or icarus timing set since it knows the devices, so get rid of "--icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100 -S //./COM3"

Well hopefully the new version of cgminer (3.2.1) that has a significant bugfix for these devices will allow people to move to it instead of sticking to the old version.

Compiled it on my Pi and it looks like as if it does perform much better with lesser HW errors still on diff 1 (check my previous post). Also, no need for additional options just like with 3.2.0. Thanks ckolivas and kano for the fast cgminer updates. Here's an addition to my previous post to get my test build to 3.2.1. Stop cgminer and do this:

I think these puppies will overclock fine with an innovative cooling solution.

From what I can tell, we'll need some type of software interface to make overclocking possible. I believe this was previously accomplished with GPUs through the use of OpenCL. So we'd need info/etc from ASICMiner on how/if this is possible.

I think these puppies will overclock fine with an innovative cooling solution.

From what I can tell, we'll need some type of software interface to make overclocking possible. I believe this was previously accomplished with GPUs through the use of OpenCL. So we'd need info/etc from ASICMiner on how/if this is possible.

ck or kano can likely clarify.

IMO- There needs to be an overclocking incentive to the Erupter...Could you ask them?

I think these puppies will overclock fine with an innovative cooling solution.

From what I can tell, we'll need some type of software interface to make overclocking possible. I believe this was previously accomplished with GPUs through the use of OpenCL. So we'd need info/etc from ASICMiner on how/if this is possible.

ck or kano can likely clarify.

No possible because the oscillator for the USB is a fixed frequency one. The voltage is also fixed at the lowest possible for the current frequency to match the 500mA spec of USB ports.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1. Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well. Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan. For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up. With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

Earlier in this thread, Rounder gave me instructions on how to install and configure cgminer 3.1.1 in linux. I updated them a little bit to get the newest cgminer which plays much more nicely with the block erupter.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1. Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well. Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan. For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up. With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Well hopefully the new version of cgminer (3.2.1) that has a significant bugfix for these devices will allow people to move to it instead of sticking to the old version.

Compiled it on my Pi and it looks like as if it does perform much better with lesser HW errors still on diff 1 (check my previous post). Also, no need for additional options just like with 3.2.0. Thanks ckolivas and kano for the fast cgminer updates. Here's an addition to my previous post to get my test build to 3.2.1. Stop cgminer and do this:

CFLAGS is used to pass arguments to the compiler. In this case "-O2" for optimization (enables various optimization flags) of the generated code, "-Wall" enables various warning flags and "-march=" selects for which processor architecture you'd like to compile, "native" determines the processor type of the compiling machine.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1. Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well. Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan. For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up. With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Currently getting about 1%+ with the Arctics. While the ones on the edge feel a bit warmer, the error rate is actually on par with the interior ones so I've been thinking about getting a desk fan to increase the overall airflow.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1. Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well. Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan. For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up. With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Currently getting about 1%+ with the Arctics. While the ones on the edge feel a bit warmer, the error rate is actually on par with the interior ones so I've been thinking about getting a desk fan to increase the overall airflow.

Interesting, maybe I should switch back to an Arctic. I get a little under 1% with a desk fan, but not much under 1%. The big problem with my desk fan, at least, is that it's just wide enough to cover all my Erupters, but there's a big airflow dead spot in the middle where the fan's axle is. So the BE in the center of the hub runs slightly hotter and has a slightly higher error rate than the rest.

don't mean to re-ask a question, but im holding 330 mh/s in my cgminer window, but when I check my pool stats page (coinotron.com) my reported hash rate is much lower at times and also much higher, ive seen it anywhere from 100kh to 500 kh/s

don't mean to re-ask a question, but im holding 330 mh/s in my cgminer window, but when I check my pool stats page (coinotron.com) my reported hash rate is much lower at times and also much higher, ive seen it anywhere from 100kh to 500 kh/s

just wondering if that normal and reason behind it. thks

I can't offer an explanation, but I see similar variance in my hashrate on slush's pool.Doesn't seem to be a problem.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1. Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well. Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan. For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up. With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Currently getting about 1%+ with the Arctics. While the ones on the edge feel a bit warmer, the error rate is actually on par with the interior ones so I've been thinking about getting a desk fan to increase the overall airflow.

Interesting, maybe I should switch back to an Arctic. I get a little under 1% with a desk fan, but not much under 1%. The big problem with my desk fan, at least, is that it's just wide enough to cover all my Erupters, but there's a big airflow dead spot in the middle where the fan's axle is. So the BE in the center of the hub runs slightly hotter and has a slightly higher error rate than the rest.

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now. After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates. Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now. After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates. Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.

"snipped"

It could be the hub itself.On main page info of lesser error D-Link hub.Also calculate how many watts you are using to not over draw from hub.don't put hub on flat surface as heat builds up.Put hub low in altitude as it's a few degrees cooler on the floor.Just a word from the blind...

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now. After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates. Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.

"snipped"

It could be the hub itself.On main page info of lesser error D-Link hub.Also calculate how many watts you are using to not over draw from hub.don't put hub on flat surface as heat builds up.Put hub low in altitude as it's a few degrees cooler on the floor.Just a word from the blind...

It's true the hubs can make all of the difference, I had been running 10-port Manhattan hubs with many problems it powering off intermittently. Decided to go all Ankers which have been rather stable in comparison. Appreciate the suggestion on the draw and placement, will give it a try!

don't mean to re-ask a question, but im holding 330 mh/s in my cgminer window, but when I check my pool stats page (coinotron.com) my reported hash rate is much lower at times and also much higher, ive seen it anywhere from 100kh to 500 kh/s

just wondering if that normal and reason behind it. thks

A pool can only calculate your hashrate through your actually submitted shares/time.So it could vary quite a bit at times... should be normal as long as your payout is what you'd expect (or accepted shares).

No possible because the oscillator for the USB is a fixed frequency one. The voltage is also fixed at the lowest possible for the current frequency to match the 500mA spec of USB ports.

Ah - thanks for that insight.

""Generation 1:Block Eruptor. 130nm with 6-8J/GH. Each chip's rated frequency is 336MHz at 1.05V. It translates to 336MH/s because it does one hash per cycle. The chips work stable and well at 392MH/s at 1.15V. Further overclocking needs proper handling of heat and power supply.""

I had one of the arctic fans running but it was too loud (my HTPC is passively cooled, so completely silent - this fan is not!). Anyway, I let them run without the fan and they've been doing fine for days now (famous last words). No change in performance.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1. Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well. Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan. For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up. With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Currently getting about 1%+ with the Arctics. While the ones on the edge feel a bit warmer, the error rate is actually on par with the interior ones so I've been thinking about getting a desk fan to increase the overall airflow.

Interesting, maybe I should switch back to an Arctic. I get a little under 1% with a desk fan, but not much under 1%. The big problem with my desk fan, at least, is that it's just wide enough to cover all my Erupters, but there's a big airflow dead spot in the middle where the fan's axle is. So the BE in the center of the hub runs slightly hotter and has a slightly higher error rate than the rest.

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now. After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates. Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully the Thermaltakes will arrive today. I'll report back on how effective they are.

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now. After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates. Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.

"snipped"

It could be the hub itself.On main page info of lesser error D-Link hub.Also calculate how many watts you are using to not over draw from hub.don't put hub on flat surface as heat builds up.Put hub low in altitude as it's a few degrees cooler on the floor.Just a word from the blind...

It's true the hubs can make all of the difference, I had been running 10-port Manhattan hubs with many problems it powering off intermittently. Decided to go all Ankers which have been rather stable in comparison. Appreciate the suggestion on the draw and placement, will give it a try!

Even the Anker's have issues as someone posted about an issue of two USB ports of the 10 on one hub always had issues.So on that particular hub they ran two less Erupters. I'm nearly certain it was an anker.

That's .5 Amp. So you think that can be delivered by all 6 ports? I do have some USB hubs on the way but the Block Erupters will probably be here first.Thanks,Sam

y'know, i'm really not sure. add them one at a time until things stop working

Yep, that's the plan. I'm just worried about stressing or frying the M/B or having the current on the hairy edge and start having flaky problems. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow night.Thanks,Sam

Well, I could only fit 4 Erupters into the M/B six USB ports. But they seem to be working just fine. So I doubt there would be any problems powering them.

I am using CGMiner 3.2.1 and got them mining without a hitch, so far anyway. I was afraid I would have some problems like everyone seems to be having but the install and setup could not have been easier.Sam

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s. I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1. Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well. Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan. For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up. With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Currently getting about 1%+ with the Arctics. While the ones on the edge feel a bit warmer, the error rate is actually on par with the interior ones so I've been thinking about getting a desk fan to increase the overall airflow.

Interesting, maybe I should switch back to an Arctic. I get a little under 1% with a desk fan, but not much under 1%. The big problem with my desk fan, at least, is that it's just wide enough to cover all my Erupters, but there's a big airflow dead spot in the middle where the fan's axle is. So the BE in the center of the hub runs slightly hotter and has a slightly higher error rate than the rest.

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now. After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates. Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully the Thermaltakes will arrive today. I'll report back on how effective they are.

I received the Thermaltakes earlier today and they've been running for about 8 hours now. I can report that, so far, they cool at least as well as the desk fan; I'm slightly under 1% errors overall. The two of them side by side also cover the length of the Anker hub a bit better, without much of a dead airflow spot in the middle.

They're a bit noisy at full speed, but they draw a *lot* less power than the desk fan, so that seems like a fair trade-off to me.

On the overclock issue - what software or commands would you use to change the voltage on these??

friedcat (he of ASICMiner) stated earlier in this thread that overclocking was not possible due to the chip's timing being dependent on USB fixed clock frequency & voltage. One could speculate that one would need to get the chip running off of an external variable voltage and/or clock - but one would certainly risk bricking their erupter with such an experiment

On the overclock issue - what software or commands would you use to change the voltage on these??

friedcat (he of ASICMiner) stated earlier in this thread that overclocking was not possible due to the chip's timing being dependent on USB fixed clock frequency & voltage. One could speculate that one would need to get the chip running off of an external variable voltage and/or clock - but one would certainly risk bricking their erupter with such an experiment

Also might want to try putting the ones with higher errors in slot of ones with lower errors and skip every other one for heat related and POWER related issues...

Hmm - after a few hours of testing with the added heatsink, I'm seeing no significant reduction in error rate.(This was w/ a 120mm ThermalTake fan, btw)

I'm guessing we might see some benefit from replacing the large stock heatsink w one that has a greater surface area (such as the one seen on the emerald prototypes) - but again, just a guess. No doubt that friedcat did plenty of testing before finalizing this design - always fun to experiment tho.

As cool looking as these are, and as much as I want to get into ASIC, it looks like these will probably never earn you your 2BTC. At current difficulty, it would take something like 240 days to recover your investment, but we all know difficulty is shooting through the roof. Considering the basic chip is around $10 in bulk, the whole shebang should be going for around $50. I know you didn't set the price Canary, but that's my .02 BTC.

Hmm - after a few hours of testing with the added heatsink, I'm seeing no significant reduction in error rate.(This was w/ a 120mm ThermalTake fan, btw)

I'm guessing we might see some benefit from replacing the large stock heatsink w one that has a greater surface area (such as the one seen on the emerald prototypes) - but again, just a guess. No doubt that friedcat did plenty of testing before finalizing this design - always fun to experiment tho.

I do think the Emerald type heat sinks protrude so much they heat up the Erupter next to it in the Hub.Hub spacings are too tight.

Hmm - after a few hours of testing with the added heatsink, I'm seeing no significant reduction in error rate.(This was w/ a 120mm ThermalTake fan, btw)

I'm guessing we might see some benefit from replacing the large stock heatsink w one that has a greater surface area (such as the one seen on the emerald prototypes) - but again, just a guess. No doubt that friedcat did plenty of testing before finalizing this design - always fun to experiment tho.

I suspect that adding a heat-sink on the 'back' of the chip is not going to achieve much..., the thermal resistance is too high.

What is the temp on the inductor next to the chip and the DC/DC control chip?

Also looking at the board & it's PSU... it could do with a couple of tants. NOT ecaps...

also a bit surprised that the 'crypto' chip does not appear to be 'decoupled'...

Ironically, I started playing around with the infrared temp gun yesterday and the ambient temp of the room seems to be the biggest factor. In the afternoon, the highest temp was ~120F. This morning it is ~110F. The inductor(along with the support chips) is about 5 degrees lower. I'm waiting on another Anker hub and I have an extra one plugged straight into a PC port vertically and it has a spot near the LED in the ~135F range. But the same area on the 9 in the hub is fine.

It tells you why exactly there. You need to install a windows usb driver. As the docs say, you DO NOT USE THE FTDI DRIVER that other software uses, when using cgminer. You'll see exact instructions for it spelt out in the ASIC-README included with cgminer.

It tells you why exactly there. You need to install a windows usb driver. As the docs say, you DO NOT USE THE FTDI DRIVER that other software uses, when using cgminer. You'll see exact instructions for it spelt out in the ASIC-README included with cgminer.

It tells you why exactly there. You need to install a windows usb driver. As the docs say, you DO NOT USE THE FTDI DRIVER that other software uses, when using cgminer. You'll see exact instructions for it spelt out in the ASIC-README included with cgminer.

Should I uninstall the driver CP210x_VCP_Windows ?

How about following the docs in ASIC-README? Step by step instructions, would you like me to read them out for you?

It tells you why exactly there. You need to install a windows usb driver. As the docs say, you DO NOT USE THE FTDI DRIVER that other software uses, when using cgminer. You'll see exact instructions for it spelt out in the ASIC-README included with cgminer.

Should I uninstall the driver CP210x_VCP_Windows ?

How about following the docs in ASIC-README? Step by step instructions, would you like me to read them out for you?

ok, calm down man, you seem to be irritated. I've been a long term user of your cgminer, so please be patient. If you don't want to answer my questions, just skip them, ok? Anyway thanks for the cgminer.

It tells you why exactly there. You need to install a windows usb driver. As the docs say, you DO NOT USE THE FTDI DRIVER that other software uses, when using cgminer. You'll see exact instructions for it spelt out in the ASIC-README included with cgminer.

Should I uninstall the driver CP210x_VCP_Windows ?

How about following the docs in ASIC-README? Step by step instructions, would you like me to read them out for you?

I can confirm that with proper cooling, the HW error rate of the Block Eruptor drops to a fraction of the rate without cooling. The Arctic Breeze USB fan is ideal for this, although you may have trouble fitting it into your USB hub. I used a separate USB power supply.

I can confirm that with proper cooling, the HW error rate of the Block Eruptor drops to a fraction of the rate without cooling. The Arctic Breeze USB fan is ideal for this, although you may have trouble fitting it into your USB hub. I used a separate USB power supply.

Actually, like I said previously, I have 9 with the fan in a hub and one just plugged straight into the PC and while that one has one of the higher error rates, it is not the worst! I also tried throwing one in the fridge and then freezer for 20 mins and trying it and hashrate & error rate was the same as the others. Also, about the theory that they are too close - one of the worst error rate ones is right next to one of the best ones. So, I'm getting the impression that it's pretty random how each one performs, just like lemons come off car assembly lines and I can tell you from my job, that quality of workmanship is really the BIGGEST factor in how a product performs. Obviously, design and quality of materials are also huge factors.

You know, I've rarely had HW errors with my GPUs. How come these USB Eruptors that cost as much as a new gen GPU produce ANY HW errors at all?

Considing it's the size of a thumb, you are being a bit picky. :-D GPUs mining BTC may have low error rates, but mining scrypt all out... anything less than 3-5% is acceptable, and normal. BTC is intensity 8-11(depending on GPU model) and scrypt is usually 13+

6 - AMU devices thru a Raspberry Pi running MinePeon (6-11-2013 rev) and mining with CGMiner 3.2.1, I can confirm the DLink DUB-7H powered hub does work. I DID NOT use any of the icarus options nor timing when launching CGMiner.

I can confirm that the Plugable USB 3.0 High Powered hub DOES NOT work with the AMUs.

6 - AMU devices thru a Raspberry Pi running MinePeon (6-11-2013 rev) and mining with CGMiner 3.2.1, I can confirm the DLink DUB-7H powered hub does work. I DID NOT use any of the icarus options nor timing when launching CGMiner.

I can confirm that the Plugable USB 3.0 High Powered hub DOES NOT work with the AMUs.

6 - AMU devices thru a Raspberry Pi running MinePeon (6-11-2013 rev) and mining with CGMiner 3.2.1, I can confirm the DLink DUB-7H powered hub does work. I DID NOT use any of the icarus options nor timing when launching CGMiner.

Hey, buddy! We've got a similar setup! What's your guess about the ROI of the AMUs?

6 - AMU devices thru a Raspberry Pi running MinePeon (6-11-2013 rev) and mining with CGMiner 3.2.1, I can confirm the DLink DUB-7H powered hub does work. I DID NOT use any of the icarus options nor timing when launching CGMiner.

Hey, buddy! We've got a similar setup! What's your guess about the ROI of the AMUs?

BTW, what sort of cooling are you using, if any?

I was just talking about that, I am not sure ROI will be reached inside of 365 days sadly. There is however a growing market on the auction sites which could be profitable. I have a fan mounted on my rack which moves air across all the mining hardware, I had a usb fan but it was causing hardware errors on a couple of the AMUs, I suspect the fan is a power hog and the DLink did not have it to spare. I have been running for 6+ Hours with NO issues

I was just talking about that, I am not sure ROI will be reached inside of 365 days sadly. There is however a growing market on the auction sites which could be profitable. I have a fan mounted on my rack which moves air across all the mining hardware, I had a usb fan but it was causing hardware errors on a couple of the AMUs, I suspect the fan is a power hog and the DLink did not have it to spare. I have been running for 6+ Hours with NO issues

What's your HW error % rate? Divide HW by A to get it. Mine is 0.8%.

EDIT: You might need to calculate it individually because you have other hardware besides the AMUs.

I've got the same/similar setup(hub/pi/bfgminer). when i plugged in 7 sticks i had 2 give problems. one was puking errors and the other refused to hash.

i unplugged 1 stick and started a fan blowing across the 6 USB sticks. the 1 stick which was previously giving >10% hw errors started hashing normally.the 6 sticks even after not clearing errors are now averaging ~1% hw errs over 30 hours now. the actual rate should be much lower once i restart and clear the counters. i measured the sticks at 140 degrees F without the fan. with fan they're comfortable to the touch.

I've got the same/similar setup(hub/pi/bfgminer). when i plugged in 7 sticks i had 2 give problems. one was puking errors and the other refused to hash.

i unplugged 1 stick and started a fan blowing across the 6 USB sticks. the 1 stick which was previously giving >10% hw errors started hashing normally.the 6 sticks even after not clearing errors are now averaging ~1% hw errs over 30 hours now. the actual rate should be much lower once i restart and clear the counters. i measured the sticks at 140 degrees F without the fan. with fan they're comfortable to the touch.

How much current does your power adapter deliver? The USB eruptors require 500mA each. The DUB-H7 can deliver 3A, which is 5 eruptors and 1 fan, or 6 eruptors.

So I have 2 USB ASIC Erupters on a DLink H7 connected to my pi (using latest wheezy hard-float build). Got cgminer 3.2.2 installed and it's mining. However, 1 is averaging at 60 MH/s and the other one is averaging 116 MH/s. I have no clue why it's going so slow.

Now when I go a plug the hub into my PC running Windows 7 and I run cgminer with same configs, I'm getting the desired average of 333 MH/s per stick.

Since I'm getting my desired hashrate on my windows machine it's making me think that it's a software problem. I though of it maybe being a hardware problem concerning power, but people are posting this hub works fine with 7 usb erupter's connected to them. I only have 2 connected at the moment.

So I have 2 USB ASIC Erupters on a DLink H7 connected to my pi (using latest wheezy hard-float build). Got cgminer 3.2.2 installed and it's mining. However, 1 is averaging at 60 MH/s and the other one is averaging 116 MH/s. I have no clue why it's going so slow.

Now when I go a plug the hub into my PC running Windows 7 and I run cgminer with same configs, I'm getting the desired average of 333 MH/s per stick.

Since I'm getting my desired hashrate on my windows machine it's making me think that it's a software problem. I though of it maybe being a hardware problem concerning power, but people are posting this hub works fine with 7 usb erupter's connected to them. I only have 2 connected at the moment.

I'm running out of ideas. Anyone have an idea of what it could be?

I had trouble with 3.2.2 on wheezy as well - 3.1.1 works fine using icarus params

So I have 2 USB ASIC Erupters on a DLink H7 connected to my pi (using latest wheezy hard-float build). Got cgminer 3.2.2 installed and it's mining. However, 1 is averaging at 60 MH/s and the other one is averaging 116 MH/s. I have no clue why it's going so slow.

Now when I go a plug the hub into my PC running Windows 7 and I run cgminer with same configs, I'm getting the desired average of 333 MH/s per stick.

Since I'm getting my desired hashrate on my windows machine it's making me think that it's a software problem. I though of it maybe being a hardware problem concerning power, but people are posting this hub works fine with 7 usb erupter's connected to them. I only have 2 connected at the moment.

So I have 2 USB ASIC Erupters on a DLink H7 connected to my pi (using latest wheezy hard-float build). Got cgminer 3.2.2 installed and it's mining. However, 1 is averaging at 60 MH/s and the other one is averaging 116 MH/s. I have no clue why it's going so slow.

Now when I go a plug the hub into my PC running Windows 7 and I run cgminer with same configs, I'm getting the desired average of 333 MH/s per stick.

Since I'm getting my desired hashrate on my windows machine it's making me think that it's a software problem. I though of it maybe being a hardware problem concerning power, but people are posting this hub works fine with 7 usb erupter's connected to them. I only have 2 connected at the moment.

I'm running out of ideas. Anyone have an idea of what it could be?

I had trouble with 3.2.2 on wheezy as well - 3.1.1 works fine using icarus params

I was a very early Bitcoin adopter - I mined and sold over 12,500+ BTC before they reached just a few cents! I bought a slice of a rather famous Pizza!? and donated 500 BTC to the first Bitcoin Faucet. Got a bit lost along the way... logged out 2010... logged back in 2013... I did 'find' around 25 BTC (in old wallets and sites), which is better than none! <> BBR - BTC - BTSX - CBX - CURE - DRK - GAP - GRC - LTC - MINT - MYR - NMC - NuBits - PPC - SLM - START - XPM - XMG - XST - SLG <> This is not investment advice! <>

With this .bat CGminer opens and Runs all three gpus 7950s, as well as recognizes my block erupter. I have the BE in a USB 3.0 slot and its mining consistently at 333mh/s~.

Also, as you can see by my bat config I did not need to include and special settings for the Block Erupter. I just installed the two drivers, restarted my computer and CGminer 3.2.2 recognized the card.Reply

As far as hardware errors, Im literally seeing like 20 per 1000 shares accepted. give or take. so not so bad.

A Star topology offers a more direct route so that would be my first choice pending testing. Why not spend a little extra for two Pi units for less chance on a single failure causing problems? (both the primary usb hub and the pi)

Is there any reason to believe that the corresponding power supply for the d-link DUB-H7 isn't adequate to supply full power for 7 connected erupters? All ports are powered, of course, but can the power supply support that much simultaneous electrical draw?